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[Keith W Drahn, Messiah College]

Carlson's article is interesting and probably represents the majority opinion among students I've spoken with at this institution. However, there is another population that may well welcome an alternative form of textbook. About 50 students on this campus have either a reading disability or a significant attention defict, both of which virtually guarantee that students will never have time to read their books. The format being marketed by publishers would seem to appeal to these students, if not the general student population. I can only wish that publishers would try as hard to offer digital formats for all their texts as they appear willing to work to market this highly-restrictive alternative to hard copy. I would suggest that publishers try to find solutions to the lack of portability by design. When students are able to download a textbook into their own computers or PDAs, they may be more willing to purchase their "books" in this format.
We've discovered here that students with disabilities value the auditory "reading" of books because it allows them to stay focused and actually keep up a comfortable reading pace. Surprisingly, we've just learned from our own research that students are not using the on-screen text with highlighting, but are unanimously choosing to just listen to the text being read, or at times following along in their own print copies. The lack of portability is also a concern for these students. As a result, we are working on a project where in place of a CD-ROM version of the text, we will offer to convert the textbooks to MP3 format so a student can have their text available in audio, and capture the portability of a real book. Oh, in case the reader wonders about copyright issues, Congress modified the copyright laws to allow conversion of print materials to alternate forms for students with disabilities. Students are required to confirm that they have purchased a print copy of the text, and in some cases, student copies are the ones that are actually used for the scanning and text-conversion process. There is indeed a market for electronic textbooks, but it may not be in the format now being marketed among the general student populations. Publishers would do well to consider this alternative group and perhaps find ways of extending the value of e-text to others.

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[Barbara]

Frankly I am getting sick and tired of everything being done to accommodate a tiny fraction of the student population.  And that is precisely what Keith is suggesting.

The overwhelming majority of people who claim to have attention deficit disorders are (a) faking it, (b) convinced a doctor they had it, (c) all of the above.

At my university people who "claim" to have ADD are given twice as long as the other students to take their exams.  The disabled student's office proctors the exams. In the last 5 years I have never---not a single time---had one of these supposed ADD students taken any more time then the rest of the class did.  ADD is a big con game.

There is no real market for the things Keith recommends.  If these students are ADD, then they had better learn to cope with hardcopy material or they will never get a job.  (Industry doesn't provide e-books for their employees...)

[another Barbara, librarian]

Curiously, there is a (still small) market for e-books, and it's not for reference or textbooks so much as for pleasure reading. A study in New York State funded by the IMLS a few years back found that older readers looking for pleasure reading liked checking out rocketbooks with popular novels on them. They're easier on the wrists than heavy hardcovers and backlighting makes it easy to read in bed without disturbing your partner. And enlarging text is easy on old eyes. But the navigational bells and whistles weren't attractive - if it's the sort of text that is "ludic reading" in Victor Nell's words - if you can get lost in it - you can transcend the technology.

Students I've talked to find online texts convenient so long as they can be printed out - and given they need to consult texts again and again (whether studying or composing a paper from sources) that makes perfect sense. E-books with copyright prohibitions against printing generally make student declare them useless and, in fact, beyond stupid.  (Just watch a student try to copy and paste from a Netlibrary book for an example of Information Superhighway Road Rage.)

Clearly, at least some of these publishers are looking for a way of getting around the first sale doctrine - using what a friend calls the "peep show" approach to intellectual property - but students aren't buying it.

Very interesting article...

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[Michael , Adjunct]

My department head didn't like the texts available for a course , intitled . "Productivity in the Public Sector " , and asked me to develop a course using our eLibrary for assignments , as well as well respected articles on the Web appropriate for the course .I have just about completed it and think it could be a great alternative to the high costs of textbooks , but wonder if this concept has any future .In some respects it has the same characteristics as showing a video in the classroom , as I found appropriate videos on the Web , and most agree students take to this format , and a bonus is it can be repeated as often as the students needs to.PowerPoint slides accompany the lecture as well .

Any comments would be appreciated !

[Keith W Drahn, Messiah College]

Isn't it amazing how passionate some people can be in opposition to granting equal access to students with disabilities, yet be just as passionate about issues of race- or sex-discrimination? Those in the disability community continue to fight for access, but openly admit that their greatest barrier is attitude, of which Barbara's tirade is but one example.

Offering textbooks in alternate formats costs publishers virtually nothing to produce. All text is in digitized format when it goes to press. Adding a CD-ROM version would cost pennies. Until publishers are fully committed to complying with new federal standards for e-text, colleges and universities will continue to serve this "tiny minority" through in-house text conversion processes. Doing so at Messiah College allowed 17 of our 30 graduates with disabilities to graduate with high honors last May. Not only do these students survive here, but they thrive. And they achieved that remarkable status by meeting the same standards as everyone else.

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[PHELISHA J. 9TH GRADE STUDENT]

I WOULD TOTALLY USE THEM I THINK THERE IS A NEED FOR THEM I WOULDNT HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT TAKING MY BOOKS HOME. ALOT OF STUDENTS HAVE TO WALK FAR DISTANCES HOME ALSO TO  FROM THERE BUS STOPS IT WOULD BE ALOT EASIER NOT TO HAVE TO HALL 10- 15 POUND BOOKS AROUND ALOT OF MOST STUDENTS HAVE 4 0R 5 OF THESE TEXT BOOKS. EVENTUALLY I THINK THAT ALL STUDENTS ASSIGNMENTS AND PROJECTS SHOULD BE ELECTRONICLY PRESENTED.

CHILDREN ARE GETTING CURVACURES OF THE SPINE AND OTHER MEDICAL PROBLEMS BECAUSE OF THERE SCHOOLING



 I SAY EITHER  FIND A WAY TO LIGHTEN UP THE BOOKS OR START OFFERING THE OPTION OF E BOOKS

PJ